Closure fastener



ited States This invention is an improvement in holding devices, or fasteners for doors and other closures members; es-

pecially fasteners adapted to secure such members in shut position but capable of yielding when such a member is pulled to be opened.

An important object of my invention is to provide a fastener or holding device comprising a casing in which an engaging part or latch is movably mounted, and a yoke-shaped member for said part and comprising an arcshaped spring that always impels said part into operative position but can easily be caused to yield when the engaging part is to be retracted. The member is preferably a bent piece of resilient metal that presses upon the latch or catch at one end and seats against the bottom part of the casing at the other end. The holding device thus consists of comparatively few parts and is inexpensive to produce.

These and other objects of the invention and the advantages herein and the novel features are pointed out in the claim. A preferred construction of the device is illustrated in the drawings, but changes in minor respects can be made without alteration of the main design peculiar to my invention.

On said drawings,

Figure 1 is a section of an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 is a cross section on line 55 of Figure 2; and

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a spring for the latch.

In the embodiment which the drawings present, the numeral 1 indicates a casing having sides 2, back 3 with inturned lower edge portion 4, and a top 5. The bottom and front of the casing are open and the sides have extensions 6 in front with horizontal slots 7 near the tops of the sides 2. A roller 8, preferably of yielding material such as rubber, is mounted on an axial pin 9, the ends of which are received in the slots 7. Hence the roller can have bodily movement, but is held with the pin 9 in the forward ends of the slots 7 by a spring 25.

The extensions 6 have edges 16 that are inclined from the top toward the open bottom and rear of the casing and the slots 7 are located near the edges 16, the roller 8 being against the front edges of the slots 7 and being of such size that it projects a little beyond the extremities of the extensions 6. The casing has projections 17 bent outward and these projections have openings 18 for screws to attach the fastener, for example, to the door of a cabinet, and at the side of the cabinet, within the opening for the door is a fixed plate 19 having a projection 20. The roller 8 and the projection 20 face each other, and when the door is closed, the roller 8 passes the projection 20, being forced inward against the spring 25. After passing the projection 20, the spring 25 forces the roller 8 outward, so that it engages the projection on the side towards the interior of the cabinet, and holds the door yieldably shut. Figure 1 indicates the positions of the fastener and the plate 19 when the fastener is mounted on the inner face of the door, not shown, and the door must then be moved in the direction of the arrow to close it. But the casing can be afiixed to the atom Patented May 14, 1957 inner or outer face of the door also and the door can be easily opened by a pull on the knob thereof. The fastener can be cheaply manufactured and well serves its intended purpose.

The yoke-shaped member 21 has a resilient shank bent to form an arc-shaped spring 25. Said member 21 can be stamped out of thin resilient sheet metal, with bent sides 22 having notches 23 in their front edges. The sides are at right angle to the bridge piece 24 joined to the top edges of the sides 22 near the rear ends thereof, and from the rear edge of the bridge piece projects the curved resilient shank forming said spring 25, which has a tip 26, flanked by shoulders 27 at its outer end. The sides 22 of the member 21 when the notches 23 receive the ends of the pin 9 are parallel to the sides 2 of the casing. The bridge piece 24 and the adjacent portion of the bridge shank 25' lie nearly against the top 5 of the casing.

The shank or spring 25 curves down from the top 5 of the casing and the tip 26 seats in a notch or recess 28 in the front edge of the ledge 4 at the bottom of the casing, with the shoulders 2'7 resting on the ledge at the sides of the recess. The arc-shaped spring, having considerable length and no sharp bends, is durable and certain in its action, and the liability of breaking is minimized.

Thus the spring 25 is securely mounted in the casing and holds the roller with the pin against the front ends of the slots 7. When the roller is carried past the projection 20, the curved spring 25 bends, so that the roller can move slightly inward of the casing l.

The yoke member 21 and spring 25 are best made of spring steel, and when this member is in place the bridge 24 of the yoke should be nearly in contact with the top 5 of the casing. The adjacent part of the spring shank 25 is also nearly in contact with the casing and extends downward to the ledge 4, but does not scat against the back 3.-

Having described my invention, what I believe to be new is:

A closure fastener comprising a casing having an open bottom, a back, sides and top, the sides extending forward beyond the top and terminating in rounded ends adjacent their upper edges, the sides having longitudinal slots therein adjacent the rounded ends and near the tops of said sides, the back having a forward bent ledge at the bottom of the casing, a pin with its ends in said slots, a roller on said pin and projecting from the front of the casing beyond said rounded ends and a yokeshaped member having a relatively long rearward extending smooth curved spring shank in the casing, said member having bent over sides with recessed front ends pressing against said pin at each side of the roller, said ledge having a recess in its front edge, said member having a bridge piece parallel to said top and connecting the sides of said member at their top edges, said spring shank being arch-shaped and joined to the middle of said bridge piece, extending rearward and downward to the top of said ledge and having at its rear end a shouldered projection seated in said recess, the sides of said member being parallel to the sides of the casing and the bridge piece and front part of said spring shank being adjacent the top of said casing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,259,649 'Maucher Oct. 21, 1941 2,493,624 Gerson Jan. 3, 1950 2,660,465 Gerson Nov. 24, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 282,350 Germany Oct. 28, 1913 

